The meat in the dish is often the star of the show and a little goes a long way. But nothing is more disappointing than dry, bland meat when you’ve been working hard on the meal. We all want our chicken and steak to be juicy and flavorful AND YES it is possible! The first step to achieve this is to salt the meat early aka Dry Brine. Let me explain…
The magic of salt
When salt is added to food it will chemically react with the water in the food and through a process called diffusion the salt will slowly be pulled into the center to create an equilibrium. No other molecule in a marinade, including spices, sugar or even an acid, can do this, they all remain confined to the food’s surface. In addition to reacting with water, salt also weakens the bonds that proteins have to each other, so while cooking this will help prevent the proteins from seizing up too tightly and therefore squeezing out all the water. WELL at least to a point, overcook lean meats will still dry up, but we’ll get to that in The Second Secret.
What exactly is a dry brine?
Dry brining is a fancy way of saying, sprinkling salt on your food, but well in advance so it has time to work it’s magic and get pulled into the center of the meat. The thicker the meat, the longer it will take to get to the center. So if you have a roast, be sure to salt it the night before you plan to make it. Thick chicken breasts benefit from 2-3 hours, whereas chopped chicken can be as quick as 30 minutes. A good practice is to salt the meat the night before or morning you want to make it. Even better is to get in the habit of salting all meat you purchase right when you get back from the grocery store so this step is out of the way. Once the salt is sprinkled on, just rewrap it in the container it came in or a non-reactive container such as glass, porcelain, glass or stainless steel, and put it back into the fridge.
Wet brine vs dry brine
There are two methods you can use for salting, either a wet brine or a dry brine. In a wet brine, salt is dissolved into water and then your food is added. Wet brining requires way more salt, about 1/2 c per 2 c of water, takes more time as you need to heat the water to fully dissolve the salt, plus takes up more space in the fridge. The results between wet and dry brining aren’t big enough to justify all that waste, so I stick to dry brining unless it’s Thanksgiving turkey.
How much salt is needed for a dry brine?
The best answer to this is to dry brine with 3g of salt per lb of meat. Why give the measurement in grams? Because it will be a different quantity of salt depending on the brand and type of salt you’re using. If you don’t have a kitchen scale yet, this is about 1/2 teaspoon of Morton Kosher Salt per lb of meat. Please note, Diamond Kosher Salt it takes about 1 teaspoon of salt per lb. This is a good example of the two most popular brands of Kosher salt that have different structures, so the quantity measurement will be different.
Different types of salt
There are surprisingly a lot of different types of salt considering they all come from the sea. The smallest grain is table salt, so it’s by far the saltiest per tsp as there’s less air and is more densely packed. Table salt often has iodine added, which gives food a slightly metallic flavor. Iodine is necessary for the body, but if you’re getting it from other sources such as seafood, dairy, egg and even some fruits including strawberries, cranberries and pineapple, there’s really no need to use it, especially if you’re sensitive enough to taste the metallic flavor. I suggest going with your favorite kosher or sea salt. They both are fairly course compared to the table salt. Sea salt, which is mined from evaporating seawater, is generally flakier, courser and more delicate, but it’s usually more expensive, so it’s often used as a finishing salt.
Kosher salt is sourced from rock salt deposits on land, even though it’s still sea water, so is generally is a little less delicate. Whatever type of salt you prefer is ok as long as you get familiar with your salt. Remember different brands of Kosher salt or different types of sea salt can have different weight by volume. On this site, I give measurements for Morton Kosher Salt, but instruct when to add salt to taste.
So recipes that call for a certain amount of salt, meaning tbsp. or tsp, probably won’t turn out the same as who wrote it unless you happen to have the same type and brand of salt. Plus we have different preferences for salt, so what tastes good to you, might not to others. Always adjust salt at the end of the cooking process and as you’re getting used to your salt, I’d suggest adding a little at a time and overtime you’ll get used to the amount it takes per dish to get it to your liking.
Isn’t too much salt bad for you?
Most of us have heard we’re supposed to reduce salt for proper blood pressure. And yes, the American Heart Association recommends keeping sodium for adults under 2,300 milligrams per day. This diagram from Harvard Health is a good depiction showing that in American households an average of 77% of salt comes from processed foods. So if you’re cooking rather than eating frozen or fast food, you’re much more likely to hit the recommended daily salt intake! Why is it that processed foods can be so high in salt, yet not taste salty? Many food additives used in processed foods are “flavor enhancers” that have sodium in them but are not sodium chloride, so don’t necessarily taste salty.
Consult your doctor for specific medical advice, but most humans need at least 500 mg of sodium on a daily basis for vital functions in your muscles and nerves as well as balancing your water and minerals. So opt to skip the processed food with hidden sodium and instead flavor your home cooked meal with salt!
Vegetables also benefit from brining!
Most vegetables benefit from salt, but I reserve dry brining for thick vegetables that don’t always have a long cook time to soak up the salt OR need to squeeze out excess water. Potatoes & eggplant are excellent vegetables to dry brine. The time it takes depends on the size of the vegetable, but even 30 minutes will be rewarded! When you sprinkle salt on eggplant, you can actually see the water droplets squeezing out, which then helps it brown nicely during the cooking process. And this Roasted Baby Potatoes recipe walks you through dry brining potatoes for an amazingly delicious result.
What else do I need to know about salt?
Salt is the number one determinant on if your food will taste good. If you don’t get salt right, the rest really won’t matter much because it’ll taste bland or bitter – end of story. Why is this? Well salt physically expands our taste buds so it wakens up the perception of flavors in our food.
Now getting the quantity of salt right is extremely important because not enough salt makes our food bland and too much salt is down right gross, nobody wants to eat a salt lick. So how do we get this one right? Add salt at a few key points during the cooking process. Well before cooking to dry brine meat and sometimes on veges, then during the cooking process if there’s no other salt components, and always salt to taste at the end of the cooking process when all salted foods, such as chicken broth, cheese, soy sauce have been added and had a chance to incorporate into the dish. At that point if you taste your food and if it’s bland or bitter, go ahead add some salt to start. I like to measure a bit in my palm, or if you have a consistent pinch you can use that. Give it a stir, let it dissolve and give it another taste before adding a little more. As you keep adding, it’ll start to waken up and have that wow factor and once you can taste the salt, you can stop adding and it’s time to adjust either the sour or sweet if needed.
Recap & Next up
Dry Brining can be applied to every meal you make, including chicken, steak, fish, eggs, and vegetables, to flavor the center of the food and ease the proteins, which helps it retain water while cooking. This simple process along with salting to taste at the end is an excellent first step to mastering home cooking!
Don’t forget to read Temperature: The Second Secret to Juicy, Flavorful Chicken & Steak to take every meal to the next level!
References:
American Heart Association. (2024, January 5). How much sodium should I eat per day? www.heart.org. https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/sodium/how-much-sodium-should-i-eat-per-day
Harvard Health. (2006, November 1). Take it with a grain of salt. https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/take-it-with-a-grain-of-salt
National Center for Biotechnology Information. (2023, January 24). How does our sense of taste work? Nih.gov; Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279408/
Pitmaster. (2025, July 11). Dry brining, easier and less wasteful than wet brining. Meathead’s AmazingRibs.com. https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/salting-brining-curing-and-injecting/dry-brining/